1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to ski accessories and attachments, and more particularly pertains to a snow ski stabilizing device for training a novice skier in downhill skiing, especially a young child.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Beginning snow skiers often have difficulty learning to keep the tips of their skis together. In the best of situations a natural walking stance when superimposed onto a pair of skis would result in skis that are parallel. Unfortunately, for many beginners, it is far more likely that the skis will naturally result in outward pointing ski tips, which will have the almost sure consequence of causing the inexperienced skier to do the splits and fall.
Although teaching styles have varied over time and from one ski slope to another, most skiers will begin by mastering the snowplow, or wedge, before learning to keep their skis parallel. The snowplow maneuver has the tips of the skis pointing inward with the tails further apart than the tips. In this position the skier tends to place more weight on the inner edges of the skis resulting in a controlled descent of the ski slope. The angle of the skis is useful to control the skier's speed, even to a stop. A wider angle with the tails of the skis relatively much further apart than the tips will traverse the slope much more slowly than a narrower angle. The goal of the beginning skier is to graduate to skiing with skis parallel. Beginning snow skiers, especially children, often have difficulty creating a wedge shape with their skis. Not only do they have difficulty creating the shape; they also have a hard time holding the shape once they start moving down the slope. Children most often encounter this problem because of a lack of muscle strength and because their motor functions are not yet fully developed.
Quite a number of different ski training devices have been patented over the years for maintaining spacing and proper orientation between skis. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,264,663, is an early patent which shows flexible struts for connecting a pair of skis together for training purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,714, describes a link which extends from one member which upstands from one of a pair of skis to a member which upstands from the other of the skis. Only one such link is provided and the upstanding members are located near the inner edges of the skis and near the points of inflection of the skis.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,299, shows a device for securing the tip ends of a pair of skis together comprising a pair of clamps for attachment to the outside edges of the skis, which clamps are interconnected by a flexible strap or web.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,022, describes an instructional aid for holding the tips of a pair of skis together which consists of a first and second clamping means adapted to be mounted on the tips of a pair of skis. One of the clamping means has a U-bend with a shank portion which extends downwards and hooks into an eyelet on a second clamping means attached to the tip of the other ski.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,288, describes a ski linking device which comprises two near-symmetrical portions, each with an attachment piece which can be fixed securely to the ski tip, an arm which is integral with the attachment piece, and a joint which interconnects the forward ends of the arms. The joint is preferably of the spherical ball-in-cup type.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,603, shows a ski tip connector which comprises a connecting leaf or strip mounted on resiliently flexible members rigidly fixed to the tips of the skis and making it possible to vary the relative position of said skis.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,480, shows a ski stabilizing device which includes a pair of block members, each block member attached to the inner edge of one ski adjacent the inflected tip of the ski. Each block member encases a spherical region which registers with a circular aperture located on an inside face of the respective block member. Disposed within each spherical region is a ball. Extending between the block members for connecting each ball is a connecting rod which maintains the skis at a generally fixed distance from each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,052,044, shows a tip coupler which comprises two sets of straps, one set to encompass each of the right and left skis. One strap from each set engages an aperture provided near the tip of each ski, while other straps may serve to secure the aperture-engaging strap from disconnecting during use. The two sets of straps are joined to one another by a releasable buckle to allow quick separation of the two skis when desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,038,171, shows a ski tip connector comprised of two sleeves which slip over and are secured to the upturned tips of the skis. The sleeves are connected by a length of flexible, stretchable material.
Many of these devices involve an excessive number of components, rendering them expensive, cumbersome, unattractive and difficult to operate under winter conditions. Devices appropriate for use in a training situation, whether by the trainee or the trainer, need to be easily manipulated by a user wearing gloves or mittens with a minimum of effort. They should be inexpensive, easy to attach to skis, have a minimum number of parts, and be easily carried when not in use. The above ski tip connector designs generally fail in one or more of the above listed desirable aspects.
One of the most common and simplest devices that has been used for teaching beginning skiers to keep their ski tips together in order to form a wedge is known as the Edgie Wedgie®. This device consists of a short piece of latex rubber hose with a screw clamp on each end. The clamps fasten to the tips of the skis with the body of the device lying between the skis so as to keep the tips of the skis closer together than the tails. The major drawback of this device is that the piece of latex rubber hose is so flexible that it can sometimes allow the ski tips to actually cross in use, thereby causing the beginning skier to fall.
A need continues to exist, therefor, for a ski tip connector of the type described which overcomes the various deficiencies of the prior art, especially in the area of training devices intended to be used by small children or infants.